TWO MONTHS LATER… EXIPURE UPDATE

It’s been two months since my January update. As you may recall, as of January there was no real apparent positive impact from the perspective of weight loss that I could see after using the Exipure product. I have continued to take it and am nearly through my second bottle, with one more bottle to go. I have consistently taken it, though a day gets missed here and there. But it has been either six or seven days per week since I started.

So what has transpired since January? Well, I have probably, overall, eaten a little more than average, and while I have started walking three miles per day during Lent, during the interim time period I did not consistently exercise.

So I haven’t helped matters, but the claim of this product is that it will generate brown fat cells that helps take the weight off without needing to do a lot of other stuff. I have not gone bonkers and purposely gorged myself, it’s just that it is winter here and I don’t get outside and exercise as much as I should. Because it’s cold. At the very least, if the product is awesome then I would think it should offset a few sins. And if it were truly amazing it would encourage weight loss through higher metabolism despite those sins.

Well, I will continue to see this through, but as of now I am weighing in at 221.4. For those keeping track at home, you’ll notice that is a higher number than when I started (216.4). It’s higher than Jan. 7 (220.0), at which time Thanksgiving and Christmas were already baked into the cake.

Whatever argument one might want to make about how I would weigh even more without taking it – possibly true though I’ll never know – at this point I cannot say with any confidence that it’s doing anything. There certainly is no thought in my head that “Whoa! This is amazing!”

Are there other health benefits? I have no idea. I can’t say I notice anything different in how I feel since I’ve been taking it.

So, my conclusion? I won’t make a final ruling until I finish the third bottle, though I am making a partial ruling. During Lent I plan on walking and exercising more and cutting back on certain foods that would qualify as “empty calories.” Regardless of my use of Exipure, I expect I will lose weight. I did this last year and I tracked my weight, so I know how much I lost without using Exipure and I will be able to compare results with and without. It’s possible that by the time I’m done I will conclude that it doesn’t do anything if you not exercising, but it’s amazing with the addition of exercise. I guess we’ll see.

For now, I would say “don’t bother,” at least in the case where you plan on considering this some sort of magic bullet that solves your weight issues without any change in diet or exercise.

Too bad. The explanation of the herbs and foods and why they were chosen seemed well reasoned and I had hoped for some positive results. But the reality is, it looks like a dud.

I will do at least one follow-up at a later time.

Exipure Update – January 7 2022

As previously blogged (too lazy to link, but check out my previous posts) I am trying the Exipure product that claims to increase brown fat cells that, presumably, increase metabolism and weight loss. My starting weight was 216.1.

After a little less than three weeks I am now at 220.0. LOL

OK, in all fairness this was probably a bad time to do this because I cannot overstate how much garbage I have eaten over the Christmas and New Years holidays. I mean, I have completely abandoned my exercise program, I have not done my morning fast, and all matters of sugary substances have been on the table.

So, here are the options for what is happening:

1. Exipure is working and I’d be in a lot worse position if I were not taking it
2. Exipure isn’t really doing anything and I’ve gained the weight I deserve to have gained
3. Exipure needs more time (they do recommend sticking with it for at least 90 days) to fully kick in and at the moment the positive effects are limited.

So, at this point I have no firm conclusion other than this: Exipure (at least at this stage) is not a magic bullet that can undo all nature of bad behavior. It is possible that it helps mitigate damage. It is possible that it will increase in efficacy over time. But for now, it’s Holidays 1, Exipure 0.

Exipure Experiment Update – 1 Week in

Quick update. I started taking Exipure (see previous post) on Monday on 12/20, and weighed in on that day at 216.1. There’s context to my current weight that can be found in my 12/20 post. Note that I always weigh in after waking in the morning, prior to eating anything.

On 12/27, one week in, I weighed in at 216.8. The first inclination is to go “LOL” but I also need to be a it fair. This was over the Christmas holiday celebration, (Merry Christmas, by the way) and I take this celebration seriously! I only exercised one time during the week and didn’t do a whole lot else, below my baseline activity. I also cheated nearly every day on my typical fast-until-noon standard, and there was a good share of desserts and treats.

So, I’m not making excuses for the product, just being fair in presenting the context in which I gained a bit wile taking it.

While the Christmas Octave is upon us and I’m on vacation from work I will be celebrating and breaking my fast, so we’ll see what happens. I will track my progress with Monday weigh-ins (at least that’s my plan) and I will provide occasional updates accordingly.

My Exipure Experiment

Well, I haven’t posted in over a year, but I am doing so now just because I want to honestly document a little personal experiment for anyone who may be interested.

OK, so Exipure is an herbal supplement with a supposedly proprietary formula that claims to increase brown fat cells. By doing so, apparently, these magical cells are what then drives metabolic weight loss.

So… I’m a pretty level-headed guy who looks at most things and sees them for what they are: overzealous claims that don’t pan out, or that do so with all sorts of caveats (e.g. “product only works with 12 hours of exercise per day…). But every now and then I get sucked into the marketing and claims like the uninfallible guy I am and if it makes just enough sense to me, I may throw caution to the wind and say, oh heck – why not? That’s kind of what I did here when I decided to order a three months supply of Exipure.

Also, I am not a dieter, nor have I ever tried something like this before. I have zero stake in this company, nor do I have (or will I have) any intentional link to the product in my post. (I say intentional because I have no control over how ads get placed on my posts, so if you see an ad, know that it’s by algorithm and not something I in any way benefit from) I find it annoying that whenever I try to find any legit opinions on these types of product, they all end up saying “It works! And you can buy it here!” That’s a conflict of interest. So, I just want to share the results of the experiment.

So, let me share where I am so we can see if this thing seems to work. Last Feb/March I weighed nearly 240 lbs. For the 2021 Lenten season I decided to fast every day until noon. Shortly thereafter my wife and I started walking 3 miles per day, nearly every day. When the weather turned I did a lot of outside work, and after Lent ended I decided to keep my “fast until noon” on most days. I did not significantly alter my diet during this time. By the end of August I weighed in at 212 lbs. Since then I have not consistently exercised, I’ve been working much more sedentary hours, and I was starting to get afraid to weigh myself again, fearing I had gained back half the weight I lost.

It was during this time that I happened to get sucked into this Exipure ad and I decided to just give it a shot and see what happens. Be a human guinea pig, if you will. Now, I’m not one to throw just random toxins in my body so I had to at least be convinced it wasn’t a bunch of chemical garbage that would kill me. While I cannot guarantee that I didn’t just buy a bottle of poison, I was convinced to the point of comfort that it was, indeed, a conglomeration of things that shouldn’t do me serious harm, and so I bought it.

I received my supply last weekend, and Monday December 20, 2021 was the day I took my first dose. I weighed in that morning and was actually pleased to see that I had only gained a few pounds. I have an electronic scale and take four separate readings and average them as my official weigh-in amount. My 12/20/2021 average was 216.1. So, while I was on a weight loss trend March-Aug, I have been stagnant/slightly gaining for about four months now.

Basically, my plan is to just document here what happens, and to give a brief overview of anything that could sway things from baseline average. I consider baseline at the moment to be: (1) fast until noon on most days (4-6 days per week); (2) typical meals and snacking – no restrictions, but not gorging myself silly either, trying to limit nighttime eating (more for GERD issues than weight loss reasons); (3) desserts, soda, candy, etc. are all on the table, though I try to keep a little eye on things; (4) Exercise 1 or 2 days per week; (5) limited additional taxing physical work.

The above is sort of what the last four months has looked like. So if I work out an extra couple days for an extended period, I will note that. If I eat a gallon bin of Christmas cutout cookies I will note that.

My plan is to take this for three months and see what happens. I don’t know how often I’ll report back, and I doubt anyone is reading this anyway, so it’s more just for the fun of having documented it.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

We Are Not to Worry. But What Does That Mean?

God is in control.    God is my co-pilot.   God is the navigator.   Not my will, but Your will be done.

I was reflecting on the Gospel reading from this last weekend:   Matthew, Chapter 6, verses 24-34.

I won’t quote it all here, but among the text are a couple key quotes:

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.

The Bible is an amazing thing, because it is all true and authoritative, but at the same time it is quite easy to take things out of context and in isolation.    The Bible has counterbalancing messages throughout.   One of the classic examples is the admonitions to feed the poor, and then Paul’s statement that says that if a man doesn’t work he doesn’t deserve to eat.   It is easy to pick one side and dig your heels in and apply that to everything, when in fact Jesus is talking about the less fortunate poor who either can’t work or would likely desire to earn a wage if offered, whereas Paul is focused on a community of able-bodied people who all need to do their part.

After Mass this last weekend a friend of mine, who knows I scrutinize finances and try to make sound financial decisions and plan for the future (and he is the same way), smirked a bit when asking me “how’d you like today’s Gospel?”    I could tell he was tweaking me a bit, and we engaged in it.   He was conflating “planning” with “worry”.   I disagreed with him, and I think by the end of our talk he was agreeing with me.

I think to read Jesus’ words here as some instruction to forego any and all planning is not only incorrect, but it’s actually counter to what He’s trying to get people to do here, which is to not worry, as in don’t be anxious.

My friend, as we talked, had the personal revelation that his planning is his way of actually not being anxious.    I agree with that.   Perhaps more important, good planning will help your loved ones not have to worry as much.   If I didn’t plan for the future, and didn’t have my affairs in order, it would cause grave headaches for my loved ones if something happened to me.   Stress, anxiety, and probably a bit of exasperation and anger would follow.

I always remember a personal example from our Homeschool group.   My wife was getting frustrated because they would schedule events and then they wouldn’t plan them.    The leader of the group at one point remarked about how they didn’t need to because the Holy Spirit just made it all come together at the end and somehow, some way, the events turned out fine.    While maybe this was true in its literalness, my wife’s observation was that she and a couple other moms always did 90% of the work because they would have been utterly embarrassed had everyone showed up to nothing.     So these three moms ended up feeling like they had to continue taking on this burden while the others extolled the wonder of the Holy Spirit bringing it all together.    There was finally a push for some structure and reorganization in the group that led to some rifts, unfortunately.   I guess my point is, if you think you’re living the gospel by not worrying, but your lack of attention in the name of not worrying leads to the anxiety of others, then you are not properly disposed to what you’re being called to do – in my opinion.

We Christians have struggled with this balance forever.  We are in constant conflict with the opposing ideas of the necessity of what we do versus what that means about our trust in God.    One can actually take this all the way back to the heart of arguments about predestination.

Here’s how I see it:   You should plan for the future and plan for contingencies.   We should do what we feel we need to do in prudent and responsible ways.   This is not lacking trust in God.   In fact, God is likely calling us to do some of these things.    But planning and taking action should ease your mind, and not burden it.    If you are not able to do everything you would like to do, but you are doing what you can, then you need at that point to not worry and trust in God.    If you are moving past prudence and trying to outsmart God by being ready for everything imaginable under the sun by relying only on your own wisdom, then you are trusting in yourself and not in God.   If you’ve planned for X and the unexpected Y happens, you need to trust that God will help see you through – or that this suffering has a greater purpose.   If you are obsessed with perfection, you need to relax and trust in God.

This covers a lot of areas, from finances, to married life, to health, to raising kids, and so on.   One should try to make good health choices.   That may mean you’ve decided to eat in a certain way, avoiding some foods not because they bother you physically but because you’re trying to stay healthy.  But at the same time if you are traveling or visiting and the food choice is not to your general health standards, and you become obsessed with the idea that eating that burger patty is going to take 2 years off your life, then you are not in balance.   That’s worry and anxiety and something of a lack of trust.

If you feel like a store of food and water is a good idea and you take some measures and you sleep well then that’s a good thing.    If you wake up every morning wondering what you haven’t done in the event that X, Y, or Z happens and you are never comfortable with what you’ve set aside or stockpiled, then you are out of balance.

My wife and I actually were talking on Saturday about the responsibility of raising kids.   The discussion turned to her concerns about them becoming godly persons, their salvation, and everything we may not be doing to make that happen.    I was agreeing that we need to do everything we can, but we’re humans and we will fall short and at some point we need to simply ask God to fill in for our deficiencies, and that He is not going to abandon them to the wolves just because we forgot to do this thing or that thing in the overall formation of their faith.    It was almost as if that Gospel reading on Sunday was for us.

So, you see, I may be a planner, but I’m really not a worrier.   My wife is.   I’m not speaking out of turn here – she’d say the same thing.   In fact, she may well say that I don’t worry enough, and I say she worries too much.   We’re both probably right.

If you do absolutely nothing, then that certainly can be trust in God.   But you should also assess whether or not it’s just simple laziness, and whether your lack of concern is affected others.   It could be argued at times that I am lazy.

Finally, I offer my preferred analogy of our participation in life with God.    It’s fine to recognize that “God is in control” as long as you don’t use it as an excuse to eschew your obligations.   I’m not the biggest fan of that phrase, not because I think it’s false, but I think it’s a bit misapplied to our purpose.   God is ultimately responsible for everything we are – He created us, has granted us our very life, has given us our abilities, and has single-handedly opened the doors of heaven to us.    He has all the power in the Universe to control every aspect of our lives.   But that doesn’t mean he exercises that power over all of our thoughts, words, and actions.   He doesn’t.   It doesn’t mean he moves us like pawns on a chess board, maneuvering us through every situation, while at the same time maneuvering those around us.    He may well intervene on occasion because He loves us, but the very fact that some of us end up sick or injured, or dead, is self-evidence that God allows things both in and out of our control to occur that bring with them certain undesirable outcomes.   I acknowledge that God is ultimately in control to the extent He desires it, and that he has the power of full control to the extent He exercises it.    He is also a navigator, but not necessarily “the” Navigator at all times, since we have a say in the direction we go.

The co-pilot analogy is also lacking a bit, since it sort of relegates God to a secondary back-up position in our lives.   I know that “co” can mean partnership and equality, but that’s usually not how co-pilots are referenced.   There is a pilot and a co-pilot.    It may be a better analogy to say I am God’s co-pilot.

I prefer the Navigator analogy, but with a twist.    If you imagine a ship with two rudders, one large rudder for large-scale directional movements and one rudder that allows quick reactionary movements along the broader path, I see God as the Navigator of the big rudder and we are navigators along the path we’re on.    I think God moves us directionally where we are to go.   I think we need to trust and not be anxious about that direction.    But that doesn’t mean all is clear sailing in a straight line.   We may need to navigate some rough waters or around islands or icebergs and what-not as we follow our path.   We can still crash on the path God sends us if we aren’t doing what we are supposed to be doing.   We have responsibilities to uphold to ensure that we get where we are intended to go.    And even that smaller rudder can ultimately change our direction if we continually push it in opposition to the big rudder.    God makes it difficult for us to move off the direction He has chosen for us, but not impossible.

So, don’t worry about planning.

Colloidal Silver Update

Sort of random, but since I already discussed Colloidal Silver in a previous post I thought I would provide an update on what’s up with that.

So, here’s a quick update on my colloidal silver usage, for anyone interested.

As with any product, testimonials can be a good general indicator of the direction of whether or not using the product will be helpful, hurtful, or irrelevant.    But testimonials are not completely reliable as a universal indicator of the good a product can do.    Especially when you’re talking about any kind of health or medical product or treatment, we are all different.   Further, and no disrespect meant to anyone, but I think that people often attribute the benefits from the use of a single thing with a little too much generosity.   This pretty much goes for anything.   There are either other factors at play most of the time, or there could also be a bit of a placebo effect.

So, here is my honest attempt at sharing what I’ve seen so far from colloidal silver:

First of all, I have taken a small dose (1 oz, or close to it) in the morning each day.    Often, I’ll take a second dose at night.    This is my “maintenance dose” to help ward off evil spirits.   Or colds.   Or whatever it’s supposed to ward off.

Second, I’ve used it on a wart, to try and get the wart to go away.

Third, I’ve sprayed it on skin tags.

Fourth, I’ve used it in my eyes.

Here are my results:

First, I caught a cold.   So, no, taking the maintenance dose did not, in and of itself, prevent me from catching cold.    Here is the potential upside on that:   Many testimonials say that if they feel a cold coming on, they take a couple large doses (4 – 6 oz).   I did not do that.   At most, I took an extra dose of 1 oz on a couple days, and pretty much that was after I already caught my cold.    So it may be that I could have helped ward off the full effect of a cold had I been more aggressive.    Also, since I don’t have a body double in an alternate universe who did not take any colloidal silver, it is impossible for me to know with any certainty that the colloidal silver mitigated my symptoms.    But I have previous colds to compare to, and I will say that I don’t think colloidal silver reduced the length of my cold, but I do believe it mitigated the seriousness of it.    During my illness I went hunting in cold weather, attended a Packers game in wet and cold conditions, and generally did myself no favors.   My cold settled in my lungs like it always does, but in the past I would nearly always get a terrible cough, literally for weeks.   I had a moderate cough this time that cleared up much more quickly than typical (I have a genetic condition that has weakened my lungs, so this is actually a big deal to me).   Further, it is possible that I could have more success in this regard with a steam inhaler using colloidal silver.   This could more directly attack the issue and also get it more directly into the bloodstream to fight an illness.    I will also say that gargling with colloidal silver has definitely seemed to take care of potential sore throats.

My conclusion on cold/illness aversion:   The maintenance dose may help ward off minor issues, and seems to have had a mitigation of symptoms for me.   More direct use (gargling for sore throats) has seemed to have success.   However, the maintenance dose will not fully protect you from illness.   It is possible that more aggressive dosing or inhaling could help, but I have not tried that.

OK, moving on to the wart…   As far as I can tell, it did nothing.   To be fair, though, I am not sure if this thing on my finger is an actual wart, or if it is some alien life-form.  I’ve tried apple cider vinegar, iodine, and colloidal silver on this thing, and nothing’s worked.  Also to be fair, I usually try these things for a couple weeks and get bored, so it could well be that I need to stick with it for a couple months.

Conclusion on warts:  I have an alien life-form on my hand, I don’t stick with anything, and I can’t say for sure whether or not colloidal silver works.

Third:   Skin tags.   This isn’t even worth talking about.   I’ve tried spraying random skin tags at random times, but haven’t made any serious effort at continued application, so there isn’t any reasonable conclusion that could be made.

Fourth: Eyes.    I have had a couple times where I feel an infection/sty or whatever in my eyes.   I have to say that colloidal silver has been noticeably effective at heading off any sort of eye infection.   A couple drops morning and night for a day or two is all it takes.     I think that has been conclusive.

 

When I drink the colloidal silver I swish it in my mouth for a couple minutes for two reasons:   (1) direct absorption into the bloodstream through the mouth tissues, and (2) under the theory that plaque buildup is caused mainly by bacteria, I’m thinking it should help with that.    I have not had a dental cleaning since I started using it, so the jury’s out on that.   I’ll let you know what the hygienist says.

 

Also, since colloidal silver does not discriminate between good and bad bacteria, and I’m ingesting it in the morning, I have started taking good bacteria as a supplement later in the day (usually dinner time, or if I forget before bed).    My naturopath suggested getting four different kinds and rotating to a different one each day, so that’s what I’m doing.    He has no concerns that the amount I’m ingesting is enough to wreck my good bacteria, but does believe it’s a good and prudent thing to continue to introduce the good stuff in any event.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, and Happy Advent

Since I don’t blog for a living, I will from time to time take extended breaks, since this isn’t my top priority.

That was the case over the last couple of weeks.    I started an extended vacation from work beginning November 17, and because I was trying to get everything in a place where it needed to be before I left, I haven’t submitted a blog post since a few days before that.

Today is just a check-in as I now begin the task of catching up from my time off!

A quick recap of my time off:

November 17 – My wife and I and a couple friends drove to Green Bay, Wisconsin and listened to Charlie Johnston speak.   I introduced myself as “The Diatribe Guy” after his talk and he was genuinely happy to see me.   It was nice to meet him in person.    He appreciated that I have a bit of a skeptical nature about the whole thing, while also keeping an open mind about it all.    I am respectful and try to provide a different view or insight when I comment on his blog and I think he recognizes that I am not a troll who is trying to play some game of “gotcha” but instead someone who is trying to understand, take it all in, keeping my wits about me, and maintaining prudence.    He didn’t say a whole lot I hadn’t heard him say or write before, but it’s always good to be in a small community with others.

November 18 – my birthday!   Yay me.    And as my birthday present I went to our garden an hour away to spread a mineral mix on it only for 50 mph winds to spring up out of nowhere and make spreading it impossible.   So I unloaded it and came back home.   While I was gone, our oven broke.   Since I have already paid for this oven twice because it keeps breaking down, we decide to get a new one.    My wife and I do a birthday dinner, shop for appliances, and go see a movie.   Jack Reacher.    It was OK – nothing special but a couple hours of mindless entertainment.   Lowe’s is on a two-week delivery schedule, and Thanksgiving is only 5 days away.   We pass.

November 19 – November 27:   Rifle deer hunting season in Wisconsin.    A time where the kids, the father-in-law, and me spend countless hours in the woods and see NOTHING.    Four year drought.   The only thing I got was a cold.

November 19: Appliance shopping – decide to go to a gas stove with a local dealer who can guarantee delivery by Thanksgiving.   but we are not set up for gas, so first need to find a plumber who can get to our house before Thanksgiving.     Vacation is stressful.   Wisconsin Badgers win in football, moving up to 6th in the national playoff rankings!

November 20 – Packers lost again.   Defense is horrible.

November 21:  While we are hunting in spurts throughout this whole week, this was the special day of triumph.   Spend all day at the father-in-law’s land a couple hours away, picking off huge Bucks!    Well, we spent all day there, froze our butts off and finally saw a doe about 200 yards away facing away from us with about 15 minutes left in the hunting day.    Too far to take the shot for my son, who was the only one allowed to shoot a doe in this county.   That’s as close as we got all season to shooting a deer.    My wife actually found a plumber who could come over the next day.

November 22: We have gas in the kitchen!   Well, I always have gas in the kitchen, but I mean the natural kind that runs appliances.

November 23 – Spent half the day in a dentist’s chair.    A crown in my mouth cracked.   That has been drilled out, my nub is now even a smaller nub, and a temporary crown is on. I texted my sister and said that I think my Purgatory will be continued dental work in a confined space with spiders crawling on me.   Her response was “If that is Purgatory, then Hell sounds better.”    I couldn’t even argue.   Our gas stove is delivered!   We can now make a Thanksgiving meal.

November 24:   Happy Thanksgiving!    Great meal with the whole family.   Very nice day, despite my mouth hurting from the dental work.   Despite my wife’s nervousness about getting used to gas and convection oven cooking, everything was awesome.

November 25 – 27: Lots of hunting.    My father-in-law has a habit of picking a spot to park on public land and then walking to the furthest possible point on that land from where we parked.

November 26: Badgers won again – Big Ten East Champions – will play in the Big Ten title game next week against Penn State.   Will likely remain 6th in the rankings, possibly moving to 5th.   Need to finish top four to make the playoff.

 

Looking at that recap is a synopsis of life.    A couple hurdles and unexpected irritations that need to be dealt with – so you deal with them.   You can let it get you down or you can just move forward.   Some things of highest value that bring you joy (God, family, thankfulness, time together), things you try to do but don’t succeed at and you learn from it and move on, some frivolous pursuits that bring some added color and entertainment to life…    If I recapped every week of my life it would probably look something like that.

 

So let’s move on.   It’s Advent.   Life will be busy, but when you look back at each week will you see a lot of pointless busyness at the expense of things that would have been more important, or do you see a good balance.     I look above and I like the balance overall.    In the woods, I even spent some of that time in prayer and contemplating God.

But I was on vacation – toss in my work schedule and suddenly the balance becomes harder to achieve.    I’m going to try my best to maintain a proper balance during Advent – and beyond.

Your Sin Will Find You

A few years ago my wife and I attended a Catholic homeschooling conference in Minnesota.   The keynote speaker was Jeff Cavins.

Mr. Cavins is a good man with a lot of good things to say.   In full disclosure, though, from his time on Relevant Radio as the morning host, there were times I felt he was judgmental against those with opinions other than his own.   I remember a particular show where outreach to the Spanish-speaking community in America was discussed.   I am perfectly fine with meeting people where they are at and reaching them in their own language, but I also firmly believe that, for the good of these very people, we need to empower them for future success, which includes asking them to learn English.   On this particular show, Jeff Cavins and his guest were advocating, paraphrasing here, that the Christian approach is for us all to learn Spanish deal with the fact – and expect – that some people will not learn English.

Someone called in and made the exact point I was thinking, which is basically that this is poppycock, and I don’t think it’s against Christian ideals to expect reciprocation from that community.    In other words, yes we will help them, but they need to help themselves as well so they can be the most productive members of the country they have chosen to come to.   I remember the caller making this point, in a very respectful and reasonable way.

The response was extremely cold.   I was actually offended by the reaction.   It was as if the opinion of Cavins and guest were an official doctrinal position of the Church.    What could have been a good back and forth on the respective merits of the approaches, and an understanding that we really want similar things but maybe we have a couple different ideas on the best approach, the guy was treated like a child who wasn’t deserving of their time and discussion.

Having said that, nobody is perfect.   Cavins does much good and has offered great resources to strengthen people in the faith.    The main reason I mention it is because that really, really annoyed me and it stuck with me.   And despite all his good, it goes to show how even one momentary failing can do a lot of harm.    Not that Jeff Cavins knows me or cares what I think of him one way or the other.   But it’s still a good lesson for us all – a momentary lapse of reason can haunt you.   Maybe in this case, few heard it and fewer yet looked at it the way I did, and fewer yet remember it either way.    But I remember it, and perhaps there are others like me.

Having said that, there is one other memorable thing I can remember of Jeff Cavins, and it was a talk he gave at the aforementioned homeschooling conference.   In this case, it impressed me as a piece of great wisdom, and it is this:  “Your sin will find you.”

As Christians, we all believe that we will be judged.   And we all know that some people seem to get away with all sorts of things – bad things, including things that hurt other people – without temporal repercussions.  And while, as Christians, we want everyone to abandon sinful ways and accept Christ and be saved, we also long for appropriate justice.   And thus, we simply have to trust that, whether this life or in the next, justice will be done.

So, it may not be universally true that “sin finds you” while still on this physical planet in the temporal sense.    But I think it’s true that a lot of it really does.   I think there is a reason for this.   I think one way that God brings you back to Him is to humble you so that you are forced to deal with your own sinfulness.    Perhaps if you fall and then repent, God finds that sufficient.   Perhaps if your heart is completely stone cold, there is little to be gained.   But if you are ripe for salvation but are a slave to some sin or another, you may need to be completely jolted out of your ways, and that may mean a very uncomfortable, and even public, and embarrassing revealing of who you are.

In my own life, I have seen this happen.   I have seen it happen with others around me.   And I think what we have seen over the last few months in the political arena is a perfect example of this as well.   Between all the things that have been revealed about Bill and Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, what is revealed to the world is a dark side of sin that ultimately comes at a great cost.   In the case of Hillary Clinton, it is very likely that everything that was uncovered by the Wikileaks e-mails cost her the Presidency.   In a bizarre turn, the sexting scandal of Anthony Weiner ultimately cost him his political life and his marriage, but also ensnared the Clinton campaign and also assisted in damaging her Presidential hopes.    And even though Donald Trump won, many ultimately supported him despite a number of problematic things that were uncovered and made public to the world.   Yes, he’s President and can make reparation for past sins by governing in a Godly way, but the memory of the things he has said and how he said them will not go away.   The damage to him is personal, not just in how we view him, but in how his wife and kids view him.    I’m not suggesting that there is any lack of love there, nor should there be.   But it is something they will now always know that their dad has said, and it may be a less tangible type of damage than losing the election, but it is real nonetheless.

But not all these things are ultimately a bad thing.   Whether Hillary, Bill, and Donald repent and change their ways is completely up to them.   But such public embarrassment can do it.   If one is able to self-reflect and realize that sins were committed, mistakes were made, and embarrassment occurred, then repentance can be initiated.   It can be a deep, sorrowful repentance.   Or, it can be action-oriented (“I’ll make sure I never make that mistake again”) out of fear of embarrassment.   Sure, I think God always prefers perfect contrition, but he gives us imperfect humans a lot of tools and feelings to help us do the right thing even with imperfect contrition.   And that’s still a blessing.

Even more important when discussing more public figures – but this still does apply to all of us – is that when the sins and mistakes of others are revealed it is a learning opportunity for all of us.   Do you think anyone in government with security clearance in the near future will be setting up private e-mail and lying about it?   Yeah…   don’t think so.   And that’s a good thing.   Should all of us watch our language, our conversation, and our actions at all times not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because in this day and age of constant video monitoring, cell phone usage, and internet tracking we may just be leaving a roadmap of our own sinfulness for all the world to see at some future time?    Yeah – not that I’m thrilled about the scary non-private world we live in, but it’s probably a good thing for all of us to ask the question “If I ran for office, would I want others to see and hear what I am doing and saying right now?”    It would be great if we just did the right thing because it’s the right thing and because we love God and neighbor.   But if we also do it out of a bit of a sense of fear that someone else may find out, that’s not entirely a bad thing, either.

The best antidote for your sin “not finding you” is to stop sinning.   Or, at least, go to Confession, be sorry, and work on your deficiencies.   We all have our weaknesses.   None of us are perfect.   Don’t embrace your sin – fight against it.   Those feelings of guilt you have?   Yeah, the world tell you that’s bad.   It isn’t.   It’s a gift.   Use it, but then after you are forgiven then shake the guilt for what you confessed and move forward.  We’re human – there will likely be some residual guilt for sin depending on the nature of it.   Don’t let that residual guilt allow you to question the gift of forgiveness.  Instead, use it to continue to be resolute that you don’t want to repeat your offense.   But if you do, don’t despair.    Most Catholics will tell you that they get frustrated because they end up repeating the same sins and confessing them over and over.    The goal isn’t to just go with it because you can go to confession.   The goal is to stop.   But that goal is much harder than it seems – it takes multiple confessions and continued grace to stop your bad behavior.   Hopefully, you will sin less often, and less severely.   But it will happen.   Let that guilt get you to confession – that’s healthy.   Despair is not.

Will your sin find you?    Yes, it will.   But better that it finds you sooner rather than never, and that you work to correct it.   Better that it finds you in a way that puts you on your knees and gets you to confession.    In the end, you can never be happy that you sinned, but you may thank God for the gift of your sin finding you.

Drinking Silver

On a completely random note, I’ve been drinking silver.

No, I haven’t boiled down my kitchen utensils,

I’ve been experimenting with colloidal silver.

Why would I do this cry thing, you ask?   Good question.

So, I’ve shared some of the interesting health issues I’ve had over the last year.   I’ve engaged both typical docs as well as pursued a more naturalistic route.   I’ve tried some interesting things along the way, and I must say that on an overall basis the more targeted natural treatment has done quite well.    I am not against engaging in medicines or other treatment if necessary, but I do not want that to be the first path I take.

In the past year I’ve managed to get my blood pressure down and improve my overall health without medication.   I won’t bore with the details.

So, at some point I decided to study the uses of colloidal silver.   After a lot of reading, consultation, and testimonials I decided to take the plunge.

The first thing I realized was that buying colloidal silver is prohibitively expensive.   But you can make your own.   So I bought a highly recommended colloidal silver generator.   It’s still pricey at over $200, but if used consistently it pays for itself very quickly.   In fact, it already has.

Here’s my own experiments so far:   (1) I swish an ounce in my mouth and gargle every morning and evening before swallowing.   (2) I have put a few drops on a band-aid and put it over a wart I have had forever. (3) I spray if on a skin tag I have once or twice a day.

(1) This maintenance dose is supposed to help attack any microbials you may have ingested that are sitting in your stomach, and the gargling helps to attack any hanging out in your throat (tonsils).   Silver is a natural antibiotic but doesn’t come with the same risks of resistance as traditional antibiotics.   It’s also shown to have anti-viral properties.    While this small does won’t guarantee you won’t ever get sick, it’s supposed to help prevent getting sick.    (2) Under the theory that warts might be caused by viruses, I tried this.   It’s not gone, but much smaller, and looks to be working.  (3) Spraying the skin tag has done absolutely nothing that I can see.

I share this for one main reason – I really don’t care whether or not people think it works or doesn’t, is nutty or isn’t.   I won’t argue or debate it.   Do your own research and believe what you will.   But what I will say is that anyone who argues that this is harmful or could kill me is simply wrong.  There are countless people using colloidal silver with no ill effects, and the concerns on the product date back to a much cruder version, at much higher concentration, and much higher doses.    So, try it or don’t, but anyone who scares you off on it – even a physician – doesn’t really know what they are talking about.   The guy pictured above is a poster child for fear-mongers.    He drank a bunch of colloidal silver, apparently, and look what happened!

One thing to understand is that this condition is rare.   The other thing to know was that he was drinking 10 to 20 ounces per day for 10 years, and using salt as an absorption accelerant.    The final thing to know is that despite the appearance, there was no actual health issues that came from this condition.   His death at the age of 62 was smoking related.    Basically, the point is that abusing anything can lead to undesirable side effects.

One of the main reasons I got it was because silver is a proven natural antibiotic.   I don’t know what the future holds.   I do know there are many more cases of medical antibiotics not working, and who knows if they will ever be in limited supply.    This, to me, was a prudent step to prepare for uncertain times.

Just thought I’d share.

Team Hamstring

So, on a completely different and personal note…

My son was part of a Flag Football League this year.   The last game was called off, and it was decided that it would be fun to have the team play against parents, coaches, and teachers.

My initial response was “This is not a good idea.”

My wife and son finally convinced me to play the game.

I am 48 years old, and I work at a desk.   I used to be a very good athlete.   Used to be.

Result:  Severely pulled hamstring.

But I was not alone.   Two other pulled hamstrings and a pulled calf muscle, and it was determined by more than just me that “maybe that was not a good idea.”

I’m on the mend, but it will be a few weeks before I can do any vigorous exercise.   Not that I did before.